0 World Cup Tweet of the Day - 29 June 2014

Chile and Uruguay were eliminated from the FIFA World Cup this morning. Chile lost to hosts Brazil on penalties, after the match ended at 1-all after extra time. And the Luis Suarez-less Uruguyans were beaten 2-nil by a rampant Colombia.

The Uruguyan result has prompted this tweet:

Not much we can add to that; bring on the next two games, as four teams will become two.

0 World Cup Tweet of the Day - 28 June 2014

There has been no play in Brazil today prior to the commencement of the knockout phase of the tournament. 

But Luis Suarez is still the name on everyone's lips, and we found this more than mildly amusing:

With all the wonderful football that has been played already in Brazil, Suarez's moment of madness stands out as a particular low for the Beautiful Game. Here's hoping that the remainder of the tournament will be remembered for the quality of the football.

0 UPDATED: The Wiggles on "Chewy Luis"

UPDATE: Luis Suarez has been banned from any involvement in football for four months; FIFA reports:

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has reached a decision in the case related to Luis Suárez of Uruguay following an incident that occurred during the FIFA World Cup™ match between Italy and Uruguay played on 24 June 2014.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided that:
· The player Luis Suárez is regarded as having breached art. 48 par. 1 lit. d of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) (assault), and art. 57 of the FDC (an act of unsporting behaviour towards another player).
· The player Luis Suárez is to be suspended for nine (9) official matches. The first match of this suspension is to be served in the upcoming FIFA World Cup™ fixture between Colombia and Uruguay on 28 June 2014. The remaining match suspensions shall be served in Uruguay’s next FIFA World Cup match(es), as long as the team qualifies, and/or in the representative team’s subsequent official matches in accordance with art. 38 par. 2a) of the FDC.
· The player Luis Suárez is banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) for a period of four (4) months in accordance with art. 22 of the FDC.
· A stadium ban is pronounced against the player Luis Suárez in accordance with art. 21 of the FDC as follows: the player Luis Suárez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium during the period of the ban (point 3). The player Luis Suárez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium in which the representative team of Uruguay is playing while he has to serve the nine-match suspension (point 2).
· The player Luis Suárez is ordered to pay a fine in the amount of CHF 100,000.
The decision was notified to the player and the Uruguayan FA today. 

And in other Suarez-related news, the Wiggles' song (see below) is indeed proving popular, with almost 60,000 views; great stuff!

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The Wiggles entertain children, right? The band has become well known and very wealthy playing to young audiences all over the place.

But there's more to The Wiggles than that; who knew they did opera, and satire? Check out their hard-case take on serial biter "Chewy Luis" Suarez:

This video has only been out for a few hours, and it's already had more than 5000 YouTube views. We predict that, as the footballing world sees and hears it the video will go viral, and we'll be keeping an eye on the counter.

Well done to The Wiggles; great stuff!

0 World Cup Tweet of the Day - 26 June 2014

Here's a shout-out to all the English football fans who might be down in the dumps about England not qualifying for the knockout phase of the 2014 World Cup.

On the other hand, we're feeling good. We drew Switzerland in a local sweep, and their 3-nil win over Honduras this morning takes them through to the round of 16 where they will face Argentina. France won that group, and their prize is a sudden-death match with Nigeria.

Luis Suarez's disgraceful bite apart, this has been a brilliant World Cup so far. And it's only going to get better, going into the second phase of the tournament.

0 Chewy Luis

The FIFA World Cup has been sensational to date. But it has descended into controversy this morning; the BBC reports:

Uruguay's Luis Suarez was involved in another World Cup controversy after he appeared to bite Italy's Giorgio Chiellini.

Suarez pushed his head towards Chiellini in the penalty area just before Diego Godin's Uruguay winner.

Chiellini then pulled his shirt down to show the referee an apparent mark on his shoulder made from the clash.

"It was ridiculous not to send Suarez off. It is clear, clear-cut," Chiellini told Italian television station Rai TV.
"Then there was the obvious dive afterwards because he knew very well that he did something that he shouldn't have done."
Liverpool's Suarez was banned for 10 games for biting Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match in April 2013.
Suarez was also banned for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal's shoulder while Ajax captain in 2010.
The forward courted controversy at the tournament four years ago when he used his hand to block Dominic Adiyiah's goal-bound shot in the 120th minute.
Suarez was sent off, while Ghana missed the subsequent penalty and went on to lose the World Cup quarter-final on penalties.
After the clash with Chiellini, Suarez went to ground holding his mouth, apparently suggesting he had been elbowed.
The Italian defender ran after referee Marco Rodriguez pulling down his shirt while Uruguay forward Gaston Ramirez attempted to get Chiellini to cover his shoulder. 

The video evidence against Suarez is strong, and the fact that he has twice been suspended for biting in the last four years will not help him. If FIFA finds him guilty of biting, his World Cup will end in shame. Check out this footage, courtesy of Radio Sport

And we've flogged our headline from the Huffington Post:

"Chewy Luis" Suarez is a very gifted footballer. But there is no place in any sport for biting an opponent, and if Suarez is found guilty of a third biting offence, FIFA must take very strong action against him.